Friday, May 24, 2013

summer reading list.

my finals are officially OVER! i am so happy to at last bid farewell to the semester & welcome summer in all its gloriousness & humidity (ah, nyc summers).

{{in case you were wondering, i wrote a total of 47 pages for three final papers; for my magical realism class i wrote a paper called "'in the humidity of the forest these cruel refinements do not exist': clarice lispector's treatment of race and the female consciousness in 'the smallest woman in the world,'" for my canterbury tales class i wrote a paper called "'constant as a wall': a defense of griselda," and for my renaissance encounters/travel literature class my paper was "'must i hold a candle to my shames?': gender politics, conversion, and the jewish daughters of the merchant of venice and the jew of malta." soooo interesting, i know. :) luckily i was pretty interested in & passionate about my paper topics, so while my papers were kind of grueling & painstaking, i had a really fun time writing them! is that a nerd alert?!...i'm also realizing i really like to put direct direct quotes into my paper titles, at least this semester.}}

anyway, over the course of this now-ended (yes!) semester i've been compiling a list of books to read when i finally have the time to read what i want. & now that the semester is (finally!) over, i can start the book-devour-age. anyway, here's the list i have, & remember, i am nothing if not ambitious:

novels

*freedom, jonathan franzen (chosen with an awareness of the fact that our last names are very creepy similar. i should also note i just finished this one tonight, but i'm kind of an ocd list-taker & love nothing more than crossing something off a list)

*nw, zadie smith (or maybe white teeth? i've been hearing oodles about zadie. time to see what all the fuss is about)

*telegraph avenue, michael chabon (maybe?)

*the fault in our stars, john green (some young adult fun, but i've been hearing a ton about this one, so why not?)

*midnight's children, salman rushdie (taking a class on magical realism this last semester has really just made me even more excited about the genre, if that's even possible)

*infinite jest, david foster wallace (i've seen the size of this one & it's a doozy. so, fingers crossed?)

*cutting for stone, abraham verghese (a story that takes place in both ethiopia and nyc, two places i love)

*family ties, clarice lispector (if you'll refer back to the paper i wrote for my magical realism class, you'll see it was about homegirl clarice lispector. i figure, after writing 20-ish pages about her, i owe it to her to read some more of her stuff)

*a moveable feast, ernest hemingway (oh ernie!)

eeks. now that i look over this list it seems woefully lacking in, i don't know, brilliance. but i guess that's the beauty of summer reading, right? wish me luck!!

what are you reading this summer? anything you're just dying with excitement about & want to share with me?

Congratulations on being done with a laborious semester-one of the best feelings the world offers!! In case you haven't read these guys already, I think you may be interested in the following:Where'd You Go, Bernadette? by Maria Semple-funny and it's received RAVE reviews.The Paris Wife-it seems as though EVERYONE has been reading this one. It's about Ernest Hemmingway's wife, their troubled marriage, and the eccentric group of people she associated with (including F. Scott Fitzgerald). On that note, Z: A Novel of Zelda Fitzgerald has been getting major publicity.

these are excellent recommendations! i've been hearing a ton about "where'd you go, bernadette?" so i'll have to check that one out. & i just saw "the paris wife" at the book store the other day & am intrigued! good titles!!